New Delhi  : The purpose of introducing  Euro VI Emission Standard compliant petrol and diesel in National Capital under directions from honorable Supreme Court of India  is being defeated as due to price disparity consumers are going in for buying cheaper and ten times polluting Euro IV fuel from neighboring states .

The Euro VI emission standard compliant fuel was introduced in Capital from April 1, 2018 as the apex court had found issue of vehicular pollution as very serious and critical. The EURO VI fuel is considered as clean as Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) .Even recent report by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) , a premier national Research and Development organization has confirmed the fact.

“Due to reduction of Value Added Tax by neighboring states recently the prices of Petrol and Diesel are lower in these states selling unclean Euro IV fuel . With price disparity of Rs 2 to Rs 3 the consumers in Delhi are buying Euro IV fuel from these states and adding to air pollution in the capital” said Mr Nischal Singhania, President, Delhi Petrol dealers Association (DPDA) .

“Due to price disparity during the month of October this year the sale of EURO VI fuel in Delhi has declined by about  3.72  crore liters which means that this much quantity of Euro VI  fuel was replaced by Euro IV  fuel bought in neighboring states, this alone has added to the problem of pollution of Delhi in a big way.” Said Mr Singhania .

“Projected loss of sale for the current month of November . 2018 of Euro VI  fuel is expected to be about 4.5 Crore liters which would further add to the problem of pollution in the city. Delhi Government along with other measures taken by them to control pollution in Delhi should make Euro VI fuel cheaper than the neighboring states by reducing VAT to help in combating pollution.” Said Mr Singhania.

“As this was the first winter to check reduction of air pollution in capital  due to introduction of less polluting  Euro VI , the purpose has been defeated as vehicles in capital are being forced to go in for Euro IV fuel due to price disparity ” he added.

“ As the  EURO VI fuel is considered as clean as CNG, it requires less infrastructure to dispense as compared to dispensing CNG. “ he added.

All 400 petrol pumps along with linked Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) dispensing units had gone on complete 24 hour strike   in protest against Delhi government’s refusal to reduce Value Added Tax (VAT)  on diesel and petrol in capital on October 22 also .